A Little push
by GiveMeYourMilk
Summary: A new mysterious man shows up at Fairy Tail and tries to play matchmaker. Will this man be able to give that final push to convince Gajeel to get with Levy? (this is my first attempt at something like this just so you know. Also possible lemons in later chapters)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was one sunny day as a mysterious man in a tan cloak stood on a cliff face overlooking Magnolia. As the man stood there he stated aloud "I wonder, will they accept me into their ranks?" he paused in long thought "or will they reject me like the others". He paused in deep thought "Well there's only one way to find out, and standing around here isn't going to help". With that the strange cloaked man slowly made his way down the hill side towards Magnolia.

Gajeel sat at his table with his exceed friend almost oblivious to the outside world as bar brawls and fights erupted here and there Gajeel seemed to sit there quietly as if deep in thought. Then something grabbed his attention. He could sense an ominous presence approaching the guild hall. He stopped his train of thought and directed his attention to the front entrance unsure of what to expect. Then the door opened. A man stood there with a tan hooded cloak and a large back pack the shadows of the hood concealing his face. As the man entered the guild hall he was meet with an exceptionally cheery Mirajane he stood and spoke to her for some time and her face became full of understanding. Even with Gajeel's dragon hearing he could not hear their conversation over the rowdy guild members who had yet to notice the strange man. After a few minutes Mirajane lead the man towards the back of the guid hall towards the master's office. After showing him the way she returned to her regular position at the bar. Gajeel intrigued decided get up and go ask her about the strange man but as he did Gajeel simply heard "FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST" and was thrown across the guild hall slamming into the opposite wall. As he got up he dusted off the debris and screamed "God dammit Salamander!". Natsu turned to the now enraged Dragon slayer to deliver a smart mouthed reply when he was suddenly grabbed by his neck and lifted into the air. Gajeel was as surprised as Natsu to see the red-haired Erza with Gray in one hand and Natsu in the other. Gajeel tried his best to suppress his laughter as the great Erza scarlet berated both Natsu and Gray. Gajeel knew if he were seen laughing Erza would have thrown him into the mix as well which he thought would be best to avoid. Gajeel watched as Erza finally released the two of them after they agreed to go on a new mission with her.

Gajeel loved how much quitter the guild was after Natsu's group had left he savored the times they were away on missions. Gajeel went to go sit back down at his table completely forgetting why he had gotten up in the first place. As he sat down he could now here the clunking of boots on the floor of the guild hall. He stopped, it was unusual for him to hear boots other than his own in this pace. Then his dragon senses picked up something new, a smell. He could distinctly pick out the smell of earth, mud, and a hint of fresh blood. As Gajeel turned around he could see the cloaked man leaving the master's office slowly followed by the old man as they walked across the guild hall Gajeel could hear the old man say "you are aware that hood isn't necessary anymore?". Now Gajeel heard the man speak he turned to the master and removed his hood exposing his face "I guess you're right but some habits are hard to break I've been hiding my face for so long I-" the master cut him off "there is no need for that now you are at home at last. There is no need for hiding". Gajeel relaxed a new member ok that seemed common enough but something still seemed off about him. Gajeel averted his gave on the new man back to his drink. As Gajeel sat deep in thought he heard something hit the table in front of him. He looked to see a tan back pack laying in front of him then the mysterious figure sat down across from him. The man he saw before him didn't appear much older than Gajeel. He was built similarly to Gajeel as well. Roughly the same height but much slimmer with medium length black hair that dropped down and covered part of his face. You could still see through the slips of hair, which partially covered his right eye, a vicious scar that crossed over his eye in almost a lightning bolt fashion. Other than this, his eye was completely normal and his face bore a genuine smile. He wore a tan t-shirt, and tan baggy cargo pants that were neatly tucked into his boots that were tightly laced down. Gajeel annoyed as usual gave a disgusted look and said "what do you want twig". Unfazed by Gajeel's rudeness then man simply said "well I'd like to introduce myself" Gajeel thought to himself 'Was this guy insane?' it was quite an obvious fact that the iron dragon slayer wasn't the most friendly person in the guild and for someone to be ballsy enough to walk right up to him and be as friendly as he was put Gajeel on edge. "Listen twig I'm not a people person so get lost" Gajeel responded in a very annoyed fashion. Lily causally approached the man and greeted him with a handshake and introduced himself and Gajeel. "well it's nice to meet you Gajeel and Lily most people just call me Stone". Lily then asked "so what brings you to Fairy Tail? Are you a new member?" "Yes I just joined actually and I thought I'd walk around and get to meet some people here at the guild before starting my first mission" Lily continued to have small talk with the new comer. Gajeel sat disgusted by the new recruit's presence. "so what type of magic do you use?" Lily asked "well I have tried a variety of magic in an attempt be well balanced but the down side is it has made me a jack of all trades but a king of none" Lily nodded understandingly "so what will you do now?" "Well I was wondering if you guys would be willing to take me on one of your missions since I'm new here so I can see how you guys do things". Gajeel in mid swig of his drink nearly choked from being so surprised by this new comer's attempt to team up with him, but as Gajeel tried to regain his breath to berate the newcomer Lily happily turned and said "sure I think that would be wonderful" "What in the hell absolutely not you're gonna let some scrub come in here and try to join up on a mission with us I don't think so!" Gajeel screamed loudly as he turned and looked at the man. His face looked very confused and hurt. But as Gajeel looked closer he noticed that Stone's right eye had gone completely black. Everything from his pupil to the whites of his eyes were as dark as a bottomless pit. Gajeel was speechless unsure of what was happening. After a few seconds Gajeel managed to stammer out "y-y-your eye it's…" the recruit quickly grabbed his right eye and looked away with a look of shame on his face. "sorry that just happens sometimes I hope I didn't scare you" simply the mention of being scared sent Gajeel into a rage "What do you mean scared? I ain't scared of nothing you little punk how'd you get that freaky eye shit anyway?" a smile appeared on his face "well you see it was one of my foolish attempts at learning a bit of eye magic" he chuckled to himself "I wanted to be able to see my opponent's thoughts while in battle. It was supposed to be a very simple ritual according to the ancient novel I was reading however something went terribly wrong as a bolt of lightning came up from the ground and struck me in the eye leaving the massive scar you see today it also left me with the ability to see people's deepest thoughts. Thoughts so deep in a person's mind they might not even know it's there, and it kind of makes my eye go all weird and stuff on occasion. Ha-ha it was kind of the opposite of what I was aiming for I almost never use it unless I really just want to screw with people". Gajeel sat and thought to himself then said "that's interesting and all but you're still not coming on a mission with me and Lily" a sneaky grin appeared on Stone's face "what you ain't scared of me now are ya? Afraid to take me on a mission?" knowing this would incite a raging rebuttal he sat back in his seat awaiting the spectacle that was about to come. "fine punk you want to come along be my guest just don't get in my way!" and with that Gajeel stormed over to the mission board and ripped a mission off the wall and slammed it on the table "there's a group of bandits three towns from here that have been ambushing travelers. Meet me out front the guild hall tomorrow morning at 8 ready to go" "how are we getting there train, carriage?" Stone inquired. Gajeel stopped thinking about his motion sickness and how that would make him look in front of this new comer "no we're walking you got a problem with that?" "Nope sounds just fine to me" "I'll see you then don't be late"

It was a foggy morning with limited visibility as Gajeel and Lily approached the guild hall they could see the figure standing near the entry way to the guild. "Why you always wearing that cloak?" "It's chilly out man I'm trying to stay warm" Stone replied with a smirk. "come on already let's get going" the two men walked down the road as Lily trailed not very far behind. Later in the day they decided to stop for the night and make camp along the side of the road. Stone created a magic circle and a small fire sprung up in the center of camp. As they all gathered around the fire Stone turned to Gajeel and said "so tell me a bit about yourself Gajeel" "fuck off" he replied annoyed as could be. "come on now we're got another whole day of travel to get to our destination then once we complete the mission it's another 2 days travel back and I only know a little bit about you" "you don't know jack shit about me" Gajeel replied bitterly. There was a reason Gajeel went on missions by himself only taking Lily if anyone. It was for the simple reason that Gajeel liked to be alone with his thoughts and away from others. "well I do know a few things about you" "oh yea like what?" "well your name is Gajeel Redfox, from what others told me around the guild you use dragon slayer magic, and…" Stone's eye turned black again this time Gajeel didn't move he just stared deep into the black abyss that was his eye. "…and you apparently have a thing for some women named Levy" a smirk appeared across his face. Gajeel was so confused he fought to maintain his composure. How did he know about Levy? He hadn't even meet her yet she was away on a mission when he first showed up at the guild. Stone leaned back a smirk still on his face evidently pleased with Gajeel's reaction. "you know it's interesting sometimes what you find in the deepest corners of people's minds, often you find things people don't want to admit, things they want to hide, and things they aren't proud of" there was a long silence as the sound of the fire slowly crackling was the only thing that could be heard. Gajeel avoided the stares of the others around him by focusing his full attention to the fire before him almost pretending he hadn't heard what had just been said. "So which is it Gajeel?" Gajeel calmly turned to the other man "a bit of everything for me I can't admit that I've got feelings other than anger and hate. People would laugh you see I have a reputation as it is. I try to hide it from even myself saying it can't be, it won't be, it couldn't be. Finally there was a time when I was actually proud of the horrible things I did to her but now I feel nothing but sorrow and regret" Gajeel's Guilt-ridden face hung low as he stared into the fire as a long silence hung over the group. Now Lily chimed in trying to lighten the dreary mood "how about we get some sleep now we got a long trip tomorrow" and with that they each climbed into their own sleeping bags.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next morning the group got packed and started going on towards their destination. Mid-way through the walk, as they passed through a market place in one of the villages, Gajeel pulled Stone aside into an alley way out of view of the people in the street. Gajeel turned to face him and said in a low almost whisper "you ever bring up her again and I'll hurt you twig boy. Last night it was late I was tired and I didn't feel like beating you senseless so don't think you'll get off as easily as you did then" Stone simply nodded in understanding not wanting to anger the iron dragon slayer anymore.

Later that day they made it to the third village and meet with the man who had posted the mission. He told them that there was a group of bandits to the north that kept ambushing travelers along the roads and that this was hurting his business as less and less people came to town. As they left the old man's shop Gajeel turned to the others and explained his plan. First Stone would begin walking down the road to act as bait with Gajeel and Lily some distance behind him waiting for the group to attack and then Gajeel and Lily would come from behind and help fight them off until they found the leader. Agreeing to the plan, reluctantly, Stone set off as Gajeel and Lily waited for him to be some distance away before they started following. As they walked Lily perched himself on Gajeel's shoulder and sat intently watching the sides of the road for any movement. After some time Lily broke the silence by saying "you know you don't have to treat him like shit simply because he had the balls to call you out on it" "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY CAT?" Gajeel exclaimed as he swung wildly at the exceed who was now flying just above his head. "Oh calm down you, besides I think he might be a good addition to our team here depending on how strong he is obviously" "you can't be serious" Gajeel replied annoyed at the mere suggestion of this guy being a permanent addition to their team. "No seriously think about it Gajeel it wouldn't be bad to simply have an extra pair of hands around sometimes" as their conversation drew to a close Gajeel stopped. He could sense something was wrong but what? He could see Stone in front of them walking normally as the plan entailed but something was amiss. Just then Gajeel felt a sharp sting hit his arm and then a second he looked down to see two darts stuck in his arm "w-what the" before he could finish his sentence he fell to the ground paralyzed as his vision blurred he say Lily turn into his full battle form only to be tackled to the ground by about 15 men who appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

He heard footsteps rustling in the distance behind him. Footsteps that had no business being there. Footsteps that weren't Gajeel's following him. He turned and saw in the distance a large mass of about 50 men surrounding where Gajeel had been. "Shit" and without hesitation he took off at full speed to where Gajeel had been. When he got close he jumped into the air and landed in the middle of the group of bandits next to Gajeel. Upon landing and surveying the situation Stone shouted "EARTH RAISE" and sand around the area was thrown into the air creating a smoke screen confusing the enemies. Stone used this confusion and threw his tan cloak over Gajeel and quietly chanted a spell over the dragon slayer that was hidden under the cloak. Slowly the cloak started to change colors and eventually perfectly matched the ground around the area making the now unconscious Gajeel almost invisible. Stone looked around to find Lily and saw a large pile of men trying to hold him back. Suddenly the dust began to settle and about 20 men noticed Stone standing there. All at once they charged him "now that was a mistake" he whispered under his breath "EARTH PILLAR" then multiple pillars of ground shot up sending the assailants into the air. As this happened suddenly Lily overpowered the men holding him down sending them into the air as well. Many hit the ground and refused to get up the few that did manage to get to their feet simply ran for their lives. Roughly 15 enemies remained standing. "so who's up next?" Stone replied with a grin. The remaining members made a desperate attempt to leave. "now hold on where you going? We aren't done here. EARTH PRISON" Stone shouted as he touched the ground with both hands and four large walls rose form the ground entrapping the remaining bandits.

As Gajeel awoke he felt warm and unsure of his surroundings. He rolled over on his side to see a fire glowing not far from him. Gajeel looked to his right and saw in the distance Stone and Lily standing over one of the bandits who was pinned against a tree by three pillars of earth, unable to move. "so what I want to know is where is your boss, that simple" Stone said to the man. "Fuck you" the man replied. Stone let out a sigh of disappointment "earth pillar" Stone muttered under his breath. A pillar of earth rose from the ground smashing the man square between the legs Gajeel winced at the thought of the pain. "oh shit" the man groaned. "it's in your best interests to cooperate with us" Lily chimed in. "I can always just put you back into the box with the others and we can then do the same thing in the morning one of you is bound to crack at some time" the man said nothing to this "fine suit yourself" Stone grabbed the man by his shirt and picked him up, removing the pillars that were previously holding him in place, and through him up about 15 feet into the air. He then fell into the nearby box that housed the other bandits. Stone turned around now noticing the awake Gajeel "hey man how was your nap? That's some potent shit now ain't it?" he said with a large smile across his face. Gajeel laughed "yea I guess you could say that so what the hell happened here anyway?" the road and surrounding forest were torn apart as if a major battle had occurred. Stone laughed at this remark "well you see after you passed out we kicked the shit out of the remaining bandits and we captured a few over in this box I made. But the majority of the damages you see here are from interrogating them. Me and Lily took turns and well it slowly escalated as we attempted to one up each other" "as it turns out Gajeel, Stone is a very capable and powerful mage and he actually helped out quite a bit" Lily said to Gajeel almost as if he was referring to their previous conversation. "don't tell salamander that all he'll want to do is fight you then" Gajeel stated with a smirk across his face. There was a long pause then Gajeel eventually said "well I guess I owe you one for saving us back there". Gajeel then said "hey you do know you were supposed to be the bait right? Not us" Stone just laughed at this comment and then prepared camp for the night.

In the morning they got up and went back to interrogating their captives but this time after sitting for a day with no food or water and now with Gajeel helping the interrogation they were much more willing to cooperate. They identified a man that was trapped in the box as their leader and turned over all the loot they had on them. Gajeel then tied the leader's hands behind his back while the others were released. "you sure we should just let the rest of them go like this Gajeel?" "the old man only asked for the leader to be turned into the police so I don't see any reason to keep the others" Gajeel replied bitterly. Upon returning to town they turned in the man to the proper authorities collected their reward and started the long journey home. As they walked down the road silently Stone said "you know if you didn't think about her so much it might be a little bit easier on you" Gajeel turned around "what did you say twig? I thought you said you can't read my immediate thoughts so what are you blabbering on about anyway?" "well if she's not in the back of your mind there's only one other place she can be Gajeel" there was a long silence and Stone then smirked "if she's not in the back of your mind she must be at the front" Gajeel grunted in annoyance and continued walking not saying anything.

After they reached the guild they sat together and discussed the prospects of forming a new team. "I can't believe I'm saying this but I guess it'd be alright if you joined us" Gajeel said through gritted teeth. As he said this a certain short blunenette came walking through the front door. When Gajeel saw her his eyes lit up but he quickly hid his emotions by returning his gaze to his drink. "oh so that must be Levy" Stone stated aloud "I can tell by the way your eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store" after this remark Lily began laughing at the now enraged Gajeel. "LISTEN HERE PUNK WHAT DID I TELL YOU THE OTHER DAY HUH? NOW YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT" as Gajeel got ready to leap across the table and tackle Stone a small voice came from the end of the table. "oh hi Gajeel been awhile since I have seen you at the guild you're always out on missions whenever I come by. And who is this new face I see with you?" Gajeel stopped what he was doing as he turned to where the voice had come from. Upon realizing it was in fact Levy who had approached the group Gajeel sat back down attempting to look as indifferent and emotionless as possible. "this is the new guy Stone. I'm showing him the ropes for now" after this Levy introduced herself and then hurried off to meet with her team before heading out to a mission. After she left a large smirk appeared on Stone's face. Gajeel paused for a second wondering where he had seen that devious smile before. "hey now hold on a second you we don't need another matchmaker like Mirajane over there so don't go getting any ideas ok" Gajeel said nervously. Stone just laughed and replied "I'll see you tomorrow Gajeel" and stood up and left the guild.


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Note: So for my first story I have been rather enjoying writing this but I would like to see some more reviews or suggestions from you all. My last review suggested I break it up a bit so I gave it a try tell me what you think and any other comments you have.

Chapter 3

Lily quietly entered the room joining the other two figures at the dimly lit table. "I want nothing to do with this scheming of yours" Lily stated outright.

"see you say that Lily but if that was truly the case you wouldn't have shown up" Stone said from the other side of the table as an unusually cheery voice broke through the darkness.

"oh come now don't you want Gajeel to be happy we're going to help him with that" Mira chirped happily while her face showed an almost evil grin.

"fine but let's be clear I'm only here to ensure you two don't screw this up royally and make things more difficult for Gajeel"

"alright now let's get to taking about the plan!" Mira happily chirped.

It was the next morning when Gajeel entered the Guild hall and noticed his newly acquired teammate standing at the request board with a very confused look across his face. "Oi, what's the matter with you twig? Grab a mission let's go!"

"Gajeel do you know script magic?"

"do I look like a fucking intellectual to you" Gajeel scoffed

"well oddly enough there's only one mission on the board and it is a request for two strong mages to act as guards and another script mage, and no I suppose not" Gajeel stopped and paused for a moment ignoring the insult to his intelligence. 'something is off here' he thought to himself.

"sounds like a job for the Raijinshuu" Gajeel muttered to himself "where is Mira see if she has any jobs she hasn't posted yet"

"Mira is out doing something important all she said was that she wouldn't be back for a while. Oh and by the way, the Raijinshuu just left on a weeklong mission so this one is all us if we can find a script mage" Stone replied bitterly

"well shit now what the hell are we gonna do?" Gajeel grumbled. As Gajeel sat there in a state of confusion over where the she devil had up and disappeared to he felt someone from behind him tapping on his shoulder trying to get his attention. He looked over his shoulder to find Levy standing behind him. "what do you want shrimp?"

"have you seen Jet and Droy I've been looking for them all day"

"no I haven't see your lap dogs anywhere" Gajeel grumbled angrily. Just as Gajeel was about to start an all-out man hunt for the bar maiden he saw Stone turn and start to talk to Levy.

"hey Levy you're pretty good at script magic right?" Levy was surprised at the sudden questioning

"um yea I know a good deal of it I wouldn't say that I'm really great at it but I do know quite a bit" Levy said shyly.

"well that's not what I heard rumor has it that you're one of the best script mages in all of Fiore" Stone edged on to which Levy just giggled as her face began to turn red. All of this right in front of Gajeel. And needless to say he wasn't pleased. Gajeel did all he could to fight off the jealous rage building with in him.

"so me, Gajeel, and Lily got a mission here but it requires a script mage and a rather talented one at that you thing you could help out?" Gajeel wasn't sure whether to be calmed or more enraged by the fact that he wasn't seriously flirting with her, just honey potting her to try and get her to join the job with them. Still Gajeel somehow managed to bite his tongue and did not say a word.

"well I would but I'm kinda concerned for my two teammates and where they had gone off to"

"oh I'm sure they're fine they're grown men after all I'm sure they can handle themselves" after Stone's encouraging words Lily decided to jump in.

"Levy I would not be concerned they lived for 7 years in your absence. You needn't worry about leaving them alone for a few days"

"hum well I guess it would be nice to get a little space from those two… ok sure when do we leave?" Levy excitedly rang out. Then Stone and Lily both turned to face Gajeel as if asking for an answer to the question. Gajeel sat there dumb founded for a moment. The shrimp had agreed to go on a mission with him. 'Surely this is one of my sick twisted dreams' Gajeel thought to himself 'no it can't be her clothes are still on'. As if shocked to life by this realization Gajeel changed his demeanor almost instantly "we leave in 30 minutes go grab whatever you need and meet back here and we're off" Gajeel gruffed in a very annoyed tone. Levy seemed almost unfazed by this as she squealed in excitement and spun around to go and get her things.

In exactly 30 minutes the group had reconvened just outside the guild hall and started their journey to the south. As they proceeded through town Levy began to wonder aloud. "I know I really shouldn't be concerned about Jet and Droy but I wonder where they are"

Stone chuckled to himself "oh I'm sure they're in good hands" as they walked past an old alley way Stone looked down to see the two lapdogs tied together with blind folds on and their mouths taped shut with Mira standing over them grinning wildly. Stone laughed to himself and walked along with the others content that their plan was falling into place.


	4. Chapter 4

Authors Note: I would just like to let you all know I started writing this story for my own enjoyment. However I am happy to see that others are enjoying it as well. I especially enjoyed writing this chapter so tell me what you think!

Chapter 4

As they walked on toward their destination Levy began to groan on about why they hadn't taken the train or a carriage. To which Gajeel angrily shouted on about his motion sickness and how he had contracted it from Salamander during the grand magic games. After this went on for a few minutes Lily interrupted the two by suggesting the group stop for lunch. Levy agreed however Gajeel simply let out a gruff and said he would continue on ahead. As the group came to a stop and got out some sandwiches they had packed for lunch Levy began to question Stone about his life, amongst other things.

"You're new to the guild so why don't you tell me about you're self" Levy asked with a smile. Then the group sat around and talked for quite some time till Levy finally asked

"So I hear rumors that you have some freaky eye magic is that true?" Stone simply chuckled and recited his tale, about his eye and the scar, which he had told a thousand times before. After he finished he paused and turned to her and said

"Do you wish to try it see what I can see in your mind?" he said with a smirk across his face.

"Sure" Levy chimed out in a cheery tone

"Ok just look right at my eye" and as she did it became all one solid color. It was almost like a black hole so dark it was sucking everything into it, allowing nothing to escape. Then all at once it returned to normal. Stone stopped for a moment with a puzzled look on his face.

"What? What was it what did you see?" Levy asked anxiously. This is when Stone burst out in a fit of laughter with no explanation.

"What's so funny!" Levy exclaimed. Through his laughing fit Stone managed to say

"I just think it's funny I mean Gajeel is a nice guy and all I just didn't think he was your type" this infuriated Levy to no end. She jumped up and ran off in the direction that Gajeel had left them shortly before. As Stone slowly quieted down Lily turned to him

"Well that was interesting to say the least"

"Yea who knew that Levy didn't like fried foods. Strange what you find at the backs of people's minds" Stone replied casually.

"Wait so you didn't see anything about Gajeel in her head?" Lily sat puzzled

"Nope, I rarely find anything really interesting in people's heads. Strangely enough usually I just get whatever food they hate the most" Stone said with a large smile on his face.

"For example Mira really hates kiwis. Like I mean everything about them the taste the texture even the smell just disgusts her" Lily sat stunned for a second unsure of how to respond

"BLASPHMY I SHALL HAVE A WORD WITH THAT WOMEN WHEN WE GET BACK" Lily screamed outraged. Stone just chuckled

"Alright I think it's about time we went and caught up to Gajeel and Levy so let's get going".

They approached the small town that was neatly situated along a river bank. As they crossed over the bridge into the city they could see that it was much larger than they had thought. It had some larger buildings here and there that rose up away from the others and silhouetted themselves against the orange sky as the sun set in the distance. They began to search for an Inn to sleep at. They searched for hours on end looking every which way in an attempt to find a place to sleep the night. As they searched the town for a place to stay, after many tiresome hours, they decided to ask one of the locals where to find a place to sleep. They directed them to the only Inn that was located on the far west end of town. As they slowly trudged onward weary from their long day of traveling the group had finally found the place they were looking for. It was an average looking Inn nothing extremely flashy yet not a complete dump.

"How the hell is it that there is only one fucking Inn in this entire god dam town?!" Gajeel exclaimed rather annoyed.

"Whatever let's just get inside and get our rooms" Stone grumbled miserably. As they entered the Inn they noticed a rather large women standing behind a counter with a pitched of beer in her hand seemingly lost in thought. It was almost as if she hadn't noticed they had walked in. Almost.

"HEY THERE STRANGER HOW ARE YOU TODAY WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU? NEED A BED? NEED SOME BOOZE? HOW ABOUT SOMETHING TO EAT?" The lady behind the counter exclaimed excitedly.

"I want three rooms" Gajeel said to tired to care about anything other than sleep. The women paused, a look of confusion on her face

"Well I'm sorry to tell you this I only have one room available right now and it's the deluxe suite so it'll run you nearly triple a normal room" there was a long silent pause which was eventually broken by Stone screaming

"FUCK THIS I'M GOING TO SLEEP IN THE STREET" and with that he angrily stormed out of the Inn just as it began to pour down rain. Gajeel after seeing this groaned and hesitantly asked

"How much for the god dam room"

"Oh that'll be 50,000 jewel for the night" the lady said happily with an outstretched hand.

"What the hell 50,000 that's absurd who in their right minds would pay for that" Levy screamed. The lady smiled evilly at the Fairy Tail mages. Gajeel slowly turned his back to the women and taped levy on the shoulder

"Hey so I didn't bring much cash with me but I sure as hell ain't sleeping in the rain you want to split the cost of the room shrimp?"

"I don't know Gajeel, but then again we don't have much of a choice, ok fine let's do that" both Levy and Gajeel turned around and slowly emptied their pockets and bags out on to the counter as they both together just barely managed to produce enough for the one room. Afterwards the Inn keeper lead them to their room. Upon entering their room their jaws hit the floor. The room they had paid 50,000 for was a modest room with two wooden night stands and dresser; the room had a queen sized bed and a single lamp in the corned and it had plain wood flooring.

"There ain't nothing deluxe about this god dam room" Gajeel grumbled. Levy was still however fixed on the one singular bed in the middle of the room

"You know I would have thought a deluxe room would have got at least two beds in it" Levy said nervously. Gajeel spun around and froze fixated on the bed almost as if he hadn't noticed it before.

"Shit you think they can bring us up another bed" Gajeel muttered. Levy stopped for a moment then took a deep breath

"No I highly doubt they would and if they did they would probably charge us for it. Beside we're both grown adults Gajeel I'm sure we can share a bed and have it not be weird" Levy said hesitantly.

"y-yea and we got Lily who we can place between us. Shouldn't be a big deal" Gajeel stammered out almost sounding like he was trying to convince himself. As Gajeel, Levy, and Lily began to settle in for then night the rain began to pick up. Lily slowly walked over to the window

"I'm concerned about Stone I think I should go and check on him after all this rain is picking up"

"You sure that's such a good idea?" Gajeel asked concern in his voice

"I'll be fine it's just raining outside. Not like it's lightning and thundering out there" Lily said confidently as he prepared to jump out the window.

"Fine then suit yourself" Gajeel said as he laid back on the bed and with that Lily took off through the night sky in search of the teammate that had gone missing earlier.

He spotted Stone from the air. He was curled up in a dark alleyway slowly drifting to sleep next to a large pile of trash. Lily landed next to him.

"We have a room now if you would like to come back to the Inn" Lily said quietly

"No actually believe it or not I prefer it out here. I grew up on the streets you see so this is actually kinda nice I almost prefer it to sleeping in an actual bed. Sounds weird I know but it's true" Stone said as he was slowly falling asleep.

"So the plan is not going as smoothly as predicted. Your thoughts?" Lily asked inquisitively.

"Well you're right, kinda disappointed so far but maybe with time. Hey I know we're supposed to be trying to get them two together and all but do you really think it was a good idea to leave them all alone in the same room?" Stone asked.

"Yea you're probably right about that ok I'll get heading back". As Stone slowly shut his eyes to sleep for the night he heard a loud crash of thunder and then felt a sharp pain strike his arm.

"Ahh fuck! Lily get back here I think I just got hit by lightning!" Stone exclaimed. Then he looked down to his arm where he expected a charred crisp to be. Instead he simply saw a small exceed tightly latched onto his arm shaking out of terror. There were several claw marks from where Lily had dug in and many of them were bleeding.

"God dam it Lily what the hell gives? Get off me!"

"Please don't leave me out here alone with the thunder I can't do it" Lily cried out. After several minutes of trying to calm down the feline Lily finally released his tight grasp on Stone's arm only to crawl into Stone's sleeping bag and refuse to come out. Stone then pulled an old t-shirt out of his bag and cut it up in to shreds and used it to bandage up the large bleeding scares Lily had left him on his arm. After crudely bandaging his arm Stone climbed back inside his sleeping bag and went to sleep completely ignoring the shaking Lily that was cuddled up on top of his chest.

Gajeel woke up the next morning in a hazy state of confusion wondering why the bundle in his arms was soft like Lily, and warm like Lily. The one difference being it was cuddled around him affectionately and seemed bigger then Lily. Gajeel tired refused to open his eyes as he thought to himself 'why does Lily smell like old books, ink, and lavender. He smells almost exactly like Levy….wait'. As Gajeel opened his eyes he saw a tuff of blue hair form the corner of his vision. Then he saw it shift back and forth. He looked down into his arms to see Levy staring back up at as wide eyed and beet red as a human could possibly be. Levy let out a loud "eeeppp" and shoved them away from each other. As they rolled apart both seemed to find their edge of the bed as they rolled off and hit the floor. There was a large groan from Levy's side of the bed.

"Gajeel?"

"Yea what is it"

"We're going to pretend that didn't happen and when I find Lily I'm going to beat him senseless"

"Agreed" Gajeel replied in a gruff tone. Levy quickly got up a darted off to the bathroom where a shower was heard starting up.

"Listen I really don't think leaving them two alone in the same room all night was a really good idea Lily" Stone grumbled as they walked down the road toward the Inn.

"How bad could it be" Lily said naturally. Stone stopped and gave him a questioning glance

"Well in that case I'll let you go ahead and check on them I don't want to risk walking in on anything"

"Fine I will and we'll meet you on the southern edge of town so we can regroup before heading out" Lily said confidently. With that Lily spread his wings out and took off through the sky toward the Inn. After a few minutes of flying Lily arrived at the Inn with a prefabricated story in mind to explain his absence as he landed on the open window sill he saw what appeared to be an infuriated Gajeel sitting on the edge of the bed. Lily quickly glanced around the room noticing that the bed sheets were all a mess and that the shower was running.

"So Lily, you mind explaining what happened that you didn't come back last night" Gajeel mumbled seeming very annoyed

"Aww did you miss me?" Lily mocked and then followed up with

"I returned last night as planned and I woke up a bit before you two so I decided to go into town to get some more kiwis before we left for the trip" Gajeel was about ready to give Lily a thrashing when the Bathroom door opened. Levy walked out into the room with a nice orange dress on still brushing out her hair. She turned to Gajeel

"The shower is open I'm done with it now" that's when she turned and saw Lily stood on the window sill. There was a long silence in the room as a dark aura began to appear around Levy. Gajeel decided that whatever was about to happen he didn't need to be around for and took his opportunity and slipped off to the bathroom to take his morning shower.

After getting breakfast all four mages meet up on the southern edge of town. Lily looked as if he had fought Acnologia all by himself and hence was riding on Gajeel's shoulder, clinging onto Gajeel's black mane to ensure he didn't fall off. They continued their journey to their destination which happened to be an old man's mansion. Once they arrived at the man's house who had posted the mission they could see the full glory of what money could buy. It was a large almost castle like structure that stood at least five stories high ornately decorated with strips of gold trim and large statues dotting the front yard which appeared to be expertly maintained. They were greeted at the door by a butler. He welcomed them inside and escorted them to a study. He then told them to sit and wait until a man only referred to as 'the master' arrived. After a few minutes of waiting the door to the study open rather slowly all attention turned to it. Slowly a man appeared at the door way. He was exceptionally short with shoulder length gray hair, large glasses, and a large expertly groomed handlebar mustache.

"Hello young ones I assume you are the mages from Fairy Tail answering my job request. My name is Pubert Haywood. But I would prefer if you address me as Dr. Haywood" there was a long silence until Levy said

"Well it's nice to meet you Mr. Haywood we're here to hello so what exactly is this mission you want us to carry out the mission request wasn't very specific?"

"Excuse me miss it is DR. Haywood I worked hard for this title I would appreciate it if you would use it" Dr. Haywood said angrily. He then continued to explain the mission more in depth describing his situation to Levy. Gajeel on the other hand was still sitting there thinking to himself about the man's name 'Pubert? Who in their right mind names their kid Pubert? That guys parents must have been out of their minds. More importantly why does the last name Haywood sound familiar? Wasn't he like some kind of mad king long ago?' Gajeel's train of thought was interrupted when he heard Levy thank the man and saw him leave.

"So you guys ready to do this?" Levy asked excitedly. Both Stone and Gajeel stared blankly at her with looks of utter confusion on their faces.

"Yea I'm not gonna lie I was distracted and missed everything that guy said so you if you could just give me the quick version that's be great" Stone said sheepishly. Levy sighed in disappointment and then went over the situation. Apparently the local towns people were strongly against the old man's practices and, according to rumor, were planning an attack on his home. He needed Levy to help him finish his research faster. Meanwhile the boys would head up to the roof to get a look out of the surrounding area so that they could spot any hostile mobs of town folk heading their way. Local gossip suggested the locals would attack in a mob at night when he was sleeping thus why he needed the extra muscle. The old man had specific instructions he didn't want any of the villagers harmed he just didn't want them interrupting his research.

"Wait a second how do we know this guy isn't up to some really messed up stuff. If the towns people want to put a stop to his plans it can't be good" Gajeel grumbled.

"Well you see it's actually a really simple translation. It was a note his late father left him before passing on and he wants to be able to read it. It's not all that difficult but there's a lot of text so it'll take some time. There's no reason that I could possibly see for the towns people being angry other than the fact that his father was a deranged king that was not well received by most of the people in this area" Levy said as she stood up to leave the room.

"Well I guess we should set up shifts if we're going to be in guard the entire night. So who wants to go first?" Lily asked excitedly.

"I'll go first we'll take three hour shifts and then rotate" Gajeel said to the others and then stood up and made his way to the roof. Levy wished everyone a goodnight and left to get a head start on the translation. Stone slowly stood up from his position on the couch

"Well shit. It looks like we're going to have to implement Plan G."

"You think so?" Lily smirked evilly. Stone paused for a moment as if thinking to himself

"Yea I just really hope this plan works because of it doesn't it'll blow up right in my face" Stone said nervously.


End file.
